1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to robotic systems, and more particularly to a robotic system that includes a carrier unit and a robot unit that together enable police or military personnel to quickly inspect a suspect vehicle safely from a remote location while maintaining mobility and with a minimum of manpower.
2. Description of Related Art
The prior art includes a variety of carrier devices mounted on a vehicle for carrying another vehicle. The following art defines the present state of this field:
Westerman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,209, teaches a storage container mounted on a motor home for carrying a vehicle. The storage container is hingeably attached to a motor home and has hydraulic cylinders for swinging the storage container from a first horizontal loading position to a second vertical storage position. The container is designed to receive a specially designed collapsible vehicle and has means to attach the vehicle to the floor of the container when in a horizontal loading position, and for latching the container with the collapsed vehicle therein to the rear of the motor home in its vertical storage position.
Hull et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,651, teaches a load carrying apparatus that attaches to the existing square tube trailer hitch or receiver of a vehicle. The apparatus is adapted to tilt to the side for loading an unloading the apparatus.
Edensor, U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,130, teaches a storage container adapted to facilitate carrying wheelchairs on an automobile. The storage container includes an articulated mounting to enable it to be mounted to the rear of an automobile such that the container is movable between a raised position providing ground clearance for forward travel of the automobile, and a lowered position proximate to the ground to facilitate loading and unloading. Various other patents teach similar wheelchair carrying devices mounted on the rear of an automobile, including
Similar carriers that are adapted to be attached to a trailer hitch include the following: Watt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,842, which teaches a wheelchair carrier attaches to the back of a vehicle for transporting a wheelchair, and includes a ramp that folding to the side for loading the wheelchair; and King, U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,020, which teaches a similar carrier that is cantilevered from the trailer hitch for carrying a scooter. See also Boudreau, U.S. Pat. No. 7,083,373, Koliopoulos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,976, Senechal, U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,315, and Dugan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,884,018.
Chapman, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,896,741 and 3,872,983, teach a freight carrying railway car for carrying a vehicle. The railway car includes a plurality of doors mounted for pivotal movement about a horizontally disposed axis from an open, loading position to a closed, cargo carrying position. In the open position, the doors serve as ramps onto which the motor vehicle may be driven. As the doors are pivoted to their closed position the motor vehicle becomes suspended upon the doors. A locking arrangement is provided at the top and side of the doors for insuring that they are locked. Two different types of hold-downs are disclosed for holding the motor vehicles in position upon the closed doors.
None of these references teach a carrier unit that is mounted on the front of an automobile and constructed for easily driving a robot unit onto and off of the carrier unit by remote control.
The prior art also teaches a variety of robot units. Examples of prior art robot systems include the following:
Lemelson, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,992 and 4,636,137, teach a self-propelled robot having an upstanding support mounted on a tracked carriage, and a manipulation arm assembly supported for movement on the upstanding support. The manipulation arm assembly includes an automatic, controlled manipulator that includes a moveable tool head on an arm and a tool supported at the end of the arm. The manipulator may be moveable in multiple or all directions. A storage for remotely generated control signals can be accessed to control motors causing 3D motion of the tool head, attachment of the tool, and (if applicable) motion of the manipulator, and also to control power to operate the tool. Video signals generated at the manipulator are used to identify the workpiece, to select one of a plurality of stored control programs, and to select the tool operations applied. A wireless signal transmitter and wireless receiver circuitry operate with short wave command control signals to effectuate remote control of the manipulation apparatus.
Mifune et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,525, teaches a robot system for exterminating termites under the floor of an architectural structure. The robot system includes an onboard computer which is electrically connected through radio communication with a host computer located outside the robot. The robot includes a main body tracks located on the opposite sides of the main body. The tracks are driven by driving motors mounted on the robot and can be independently operated. The robot includes a mechanism for controlling the vertical positions of various sections of the main body relative to the tracks. A nozzle mechanism for spraying chemical or insecticide and a CCD camera are mounted on the main body. The onboard computer and host computer are operatively associated with each other to control the driving motors, the vertical position controlling mechanism, the nozzle mechanism and the CCD camera.
Iwamoto et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,407, teaches a vehicle that includes a pair of tracks each extending around a series of wheels arranged in a plane adjacent to one side of the vehicle body. One of the series of wheels on each side of the vehicle body is movable relative to the vehicle body to a selected position to vary the configuration of the endless track in side view so that the vehicle is given a superior running performance and is freely movable along paths having various obstacles. The vehicle includes a camera mounted upon an extension arm for inspecting various points. Similar robot vehicles having cameras are described in Coughlan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,812, and White et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,831.
There are also various surveillance systems that enable persons (such a military personnel) to investigate potentially hazardous locations. Silverman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,265, for example, teaches a surveillance system having a radio remote controlled vehicle that is sized and shaped for optimum maneuverability and stability, including mobility on stairs and inclined surfaces. The vehicle is designed to have a low center of gravity that is shiftable up and down, front to rear and side to side under operator control in order to provide stability. The top deck of the vehicle is uniquely shaped and is adapted to support any of several payloads, including an articulated arm module that is moveable in a pan and tilt direction and a smear sampler mechanism for repeatedly taking surface samples. The vehicle is moved by independently operated, motor driven tracks located on each of the two longitudinal sides of the vehicle and is adapted to move in a forward, reverse and rotational directions. Remote monitoring is provided by stereoptic TV cameras, stereo sound, and variety of environmental sensors.
Poulter, U.S. Pat. No. 7,011,171, also teaches a rugged terrain robot adapted to function as a reconnaissance robot to optimize safety of search or rescue personnel. Remote control places the RTR in either a rolling mode or in a stair-climbing mode. Remote feedback is provided by an on-board RTR camera and microphone. The RTR consists of two clamshell sections and a tail boom section. The RTR uses polymorphic locomotion of the clamshells for efficient maneuverability in traversing rugged terrain when in a “rolling” mode and is switched remotely into a stair-climbing mode (or extreme terrain) using end-over-end clamshell motion with a tail boom assist to climb stairways. The RTR can carry various communication devices, sensors and payloads for use by police, firemen, soldiers, rescue or other applications to optimize safety when direct entry by a human may not desirable until an area is reconnoitered.
Won, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,263,989 and 6,431,296, teach an articulated tracked vehicle that has a main section, which includes a main frame, and a forward section. The main frame has two sides and a front end, and includes a pair of parallel main tracks. Each main track includes a flexible continuous belt coupled to a corresponding side of the main frame. The forward section includes an elongated arm. One end of the arm is pivotally coupled to the main frame near the forward end of the main frame about a transverse axis that is generally perpendicular to the sides of the main frame. The arm has a length sufficiently long to allow the forward section to extend below the main section in at least some degrees of rotation of the arm, and a length shorter than the length of the main section. The center of mass of the main section is located forward of the rearmost point reached by the end of the arm in its pivoting about the transverse axis. The main section is contained within the volume defined by the main tracks and is symmetrical about a horizontal plane, thereby allowing inverted operation of the robot. See also Schempf et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,405.
The prior art robot systems are useful for various tasks, but are generally very difficult to move due to their size and weight. In operation, they are typically carried in a vehicle, and then manually lifted to the ground by a team of two or more users. The vehicle must them be lifted back into the vehicle by the team when the robot's work is completed. This severely restricts the mobility of the robot system, and requires a team of users to operate the system. All of the above-described references are hereby incorporated by reference in full.
The prior art teaches carriers for wheeled vehicles, and the prior art teaches robotic systems for performing various tasks. However, the prior art does not teach a robotic system that includes a carrier unit and a robot unit that together enable police or military personnel to quickly inspect a suspect vehicle safely from a remote location while maintaining mobility and with a minimum of manpower, even a single user. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.